Konohas Shadow
by Korpatz
Summary: During a walk late at night Naruto meets the Hokage, the words of Hiruzen changes Naruto's life for the better. NarutoxAnko no harem. Strictly AnkoxNaruto. Fuinjutsu using and stealth focused Naruto. Working on a rewrite so this fic will no longer receive updates.
1. Chapter 1

Konohas Shadow

Chapter one

Naruto was nervous, cold and agitated.

Naruto had sneaked away from the orphanage late at night, after he was sure that the house mother Morine Rea had fallen asleep. Walking down the streets, with no particular destination in mind, he was thinking over his current predicament. The teachers at the ninja academy kept him at an arm's distance, sure they helped when he asked but they almost always seemed uncomfortable when they did. It was the same with most adults they avoided him and whispered behind his back, they didn't even let their children play with him most of the time. The only one didn't treat him like an annoyance was Rea, she always gave him a warm smile and a hug when he came back from playing just like she did with the other children.

Thinking about her brought a smile to Naruto she was kind and loving everything he would want in a mother, of course he would never dare call her that he didn't want to do anything that would change her behaviour towards him.

Arriving at a park he found an empty bench and sat down, looking up he stared at the starry night sky while listening to the leaves of the trees swaying in the wind.

Was it something he did that caused this behaviour towards him? as far as he could remember he hadn't done anything to warrant it, he felt somber just thinking about it.

While he was contemplating all of this he began looking around.

' _maybe if I became the next Hokage people would recognize me_ ' he thought ' _then they had to recognize me_ '.

Giving a sigh and looking ahead of him he noticed how some leaves started to swirl around in a certain spot. ' _That's weird_ ' he thought ' _I have never seen leaves act like that_ '.

From the leaves an old man appeared, he looked to be in his late 50s early 60s he had a white angular beard that pointed down and black eyes, he looked at Naruto and gave him a kind smile.

Naruto stared at the old man for awhile with big round eyes. The old man chuckled amused.

"Hello Naruto-kun" he said with his grandfatherly smile "what are u doing out so late at night?" he waited for Naruto to respond. After awhile and not getting a response he asked again. "Naruto-kun? are you-" "how did you do that?!" Naruto asked interrupting the old man.

"Do what Naruto-kun?" the old man asked relieved that he hadn't scared the poor boy to death.

"Appear out of nowhere" Naruto replied excitedly "that was so awesome old man was that some secret super ultra ninja technique?"

The old man chuckled again amused by the boys words although calling him old man would usually be considered an insult, he decided to let it slide the boy probably didn't even know he was the Hokage. "That my boy, was the body flicker technique a technique most ninjas learn eventually" the Hokage replied.

"Body flicker technique?" Naruto asked "So it's not some super ultra technique?" Naruto visibly deflated from the mans words.

Quietly snickering at the boys words and loss of excitement the man replied "no it's not some secret super technique but it is a useful one". Before Naruto could reply the old man continued "It's quite cold outside why don't we continue this in my office? I have some questions I would like to ask you".

Naruto stared at the old man contemplating should he follow this man? he didn't know him, he was a stranger and Rea had warned Naruto to not follow strangers. Naruto finally said "I'm sorry Rea told me not to follow strangers and I should probably go back now"

"Rea?" the old man asked.

"Morine Rea the orphanages house mother, she takes care of me" Naruto replied giving a small smile at the thought of her.

"I see" the old man smiled at him happy that the house mother cared for him " I don't think she will oppose, I know her quite well".

Naruto was troubled, the man didn't seem to lie. "Okay" he replied after a moments thought.

Naruto and the old man began walking away from the park towards one of the largest buildings close to the mountain that had the faces of the past Hokages carved onto it. The old man looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye wondering if the boy would make a connection with his face and the third one on the mountain. Not seeing the boy give any sign of recognition he gave a silent sigh ' _to be fair to the boy I look older now compared to then_ '.

Deciding that he had enough of the silence Naruto spoke up "I was thinking about the adults attitude towards me" he said remembering the old man's question from before.

"What do you mean, are they treating you badly?" The old man replied, of course he knew what Naruto meant he was the Hokage after all. But he wanted to hear what Naruto would say.

Naruto looked around wondering if he should tell the old man, after a moment of silence he decided why not it was nice having another adult besides Rea give him attention. "No they don't really treat me badly" he said "It's more like they're avoiding me". "Rea is the only one that really notices me and willingly spends time with me" by the time Naruto finished his sentence he looked down on the ground sounding a little sad.

The old man looked at Naruto sympathetically but at the sametime proud over Rea ' _maybe I should direct some more funds to the orphanage'_ he mused he knew the orphanage were short on money and he had wanted to direct more money to them but the council was against it. The man sighed ' _well in the end I'm still the Hokage not them, guess I have to remind them of that fact'_ stupid really he knew that they thought they held some power but in reality it's just an illusion of power, he'd let them believe they held political influence to stop their nagging and complaining. The only ones of the council that knew their position were the shinobi side which was composed of the clan leaders, of course they weren't a fan of the civilians complaining either but they were necessary for the civilian population. He never let them take it to far though, some civilians wanted to stop Naruto from entering the ninja academy but he shot down that "advice" immediately ' _really the only reason they don't want him in the academy is because they're afraid'_ he sighed. Whoever spread the rumor of Naruto containing the kyuubi needed to be punished but alas they didn't find the person or the source.

Arriving at the Hokage tower Naruto looked confused and turned towards the old man "why are we here old man? I thought we were going to your office" the boy asked.

The old man looked at him amused and replied "we are". Which further confused Naruto "but this is the Hokages building and only the Hokage and his staff work here" Naruto replied back "unless you are the Hokage but thats-" Naruto started but stopped himself after seeing the mans knowing smile "your the Hokage!" the boy exclaimed.

The Hokage looked at the boy amused "yes Naruto-kun I'm the Hokage". The boy paled ' _I've been calling the Hokage old man ohh man this is bad Rea always told me to be on my best behavior if I ever met the village's leader'_ Naruto decided to apologize "I'm really sor-" But the Hokage interrupted him "it's okay, no need to apologize"

"Instead lets go to my office I would like to ask you some questions" Hiruzen said "okay" Naruto meekly replied.

Once inside Hiruzen's office he took a seat behind his desk while Naruto sat on a chair in front of him. Looking around Naruto took note of the room he was in, everything from the books on the bookshelves that were attached to the wall to the couch of to the side, the small corridor with a closed door at the end and finally to the large window behind the Hokage overlooking the village.

"So" Hiruzen started "how are things in the academy? are your studies going well" he asked. Naruto refocused his gaze to the man and answered "yes it's fine I guess"

"You guess?" asked Hiruzen "is something wrong Naruto-kun?" Naruto hesitated now that he knew the old man is actually the Hokage, the leader of Konoha, he was worried since he had complained about the adults in the village, maybe Hiruzen would be upset with him. As if sensing his thoughts Hiruzen said "I'm not angry or upset Naruto-kun" Hiruzen took a long look at the boy in front of him noticing the look of worry in his blue eyes "I'm just worried about your studies".

Naruto felt the honesty in Hiruzen's words and it felt nice to have someone worry about him so he answered the man "It's just some of the teachers feel reluctant to help me and it seems they rather avoid me"

"I see" Hiruzen replied ' _I had hoped the teachers would at least understand that Naruto is just the container not the beast itself'_ Hiruzen sighed and then looked at the boy in front of him and decided to tell Naruto why adults acted that way.

"They're like that because they're afraid Naruto-kun" he said "afraid? Why would they be afraid of me" he asked confused.

"Because people fear what they don't understand" Hiruzen told him "What do you mean?" Naruto asked back, he was so confused right now.

"I can't tell you right now Naruto-kun but when you graduate from the academy then I'll tell you ok?" he said "what? You can't tell me wh-" Naruto started but got interrupted by Hiruzen who told him with a serious look in his eyes "I can't tell you now because it will put you in danger, when you graduate I'll tell you because you will be better equipped to defend yourself in case something happens, ok?"

Naruto looked disappointed and replied with a meek "okay" he didn't want to anger the first adult besides Rea that interacted with him especially not the Hokage and he knew from the man's tone of voice that he was serious.

Hiruzen gave a sad sigh ' _I'm sorry Naruto but for now you will have to trust me I will tell you when you graduate'_ To get the boys minds of the previous topic he decided to ask "what sort of ninja do you want to be Naruto-kun?".

"What do mean old ma-" Naruto caught himself "Hokage-sama" after he corrected himself he gave a slight cough hoping Hiruzen wouldn't notice.

"No need to force yourself Naruto, in private like this you can call me old man if it's easier" Hiruzen said amused. "What I mean is do you want to be a ninja that fights on the front lines or do you want to support your future teammates with illusionary and medical techniques or maybe stealth and infiltration is more your style?" ' _although illusionary and medical techniques would most likely prove a big hurdle for the boy, not impossible but extremely difficult'_ Hiruzen thought to himself ' _and having more assassination/infiltration focused ninja would be nice, the few we have now would be the jonin in the anbu division, Mitarashi Anko and Hatake Kakashi'_

Naruto pondered for a while they had gone over the different techniques in the academy. There were ninja techniques, illusionary techniques, medical techniques and body techniques. Ninja techniques had always excited naruto but maybe there was more to being a ninja than just throwing out technique after technique he decided to ask the old man.

"old man what would you say makes a ninja?, I just thought it would be cool to use awesome ninja techniques but now I'm not so sure anymore"

The old man looked at the boy with the hint of a smile on his face "certainly ninja techniques are important but you also need to train your body and mind even an E ranked technique could save your life" ' _I might as well try and guide him in a direction'_ he thought "if you want my opinion I think you should focus on training your martial ability and your body with a few supplementary techniques to get out of hairy situations" _'most ninjas these days rely on chakra to enhance their muscles and strength that combined with ninja techniques leaves quite a strain on the chakra coils'_

"So focus on my developing my body and mind with supplementary jutsu?" Naruto asked back "that doesn't sound fun I want to do awesome stuff with ninja techniques like" he thought for a few seconds "like creating tornadoes with my breath" he finished.

The Hokage chuckled ' _typical children these days always want the flashy stuff'_ "In the end it's your decision Naruto-kun I just gave you my thoughts on the matter since you asked" He told the boy

Naruto lowered his head to look at the floor, it's true that he asked the man what he thought and he is the Hokage so surely he knows what he's talking about. Looking back at the Hokage he asked "Can you give me some help? maybe recommend some books or something, please"

The Hokage smiled "I can't give you any preferential treatment Naruto but you can find what you're looking for in the library" ' _maybe I should introduce him to that, if he got the blood of the Uzumakis flowing through his veins maybe he can surpass Jiraiya we have need of more_ _specialists in that area'_ "I do have a book I can give you Naruto-kun you don't have to learn it but it could be useful to you and the village as a whole if you managed to" with that Hiruzen got up and walked towards his bookshelf.

Naruto looked at the Hokage a little disappointed but he quickly got excited after hearing the man's last sentence. "what is it?" he asked.

Arriving at the shelf Hiruzen scanned the books until his eyes landed on what he was looking for, taking the book and walking towards Naruto he handed the book to the boy.

Naruto accepted the book and read its title which was "An introduction to the art of sealing" looking further down he saw the authors initials which were "U.K".

"Sealing arts?" Naruto muttered and opened the book. Seeing the boy begin to look through the book the man gave a soft smile ' _Kushina always wanted to spread the art of sealing to more people to stop it from dying and giving the book to your son is the least I can do for you Kushina'_.

Before Naruto could delve deeper into the book there was a frantic knock on the door and through the door came a out of breath voice clearly belonging to a female "Hokage-sama please open the door Naruto has gone missing".

Hiruzen gave a short chuckle while muttering "you're quite a troublemaker eh Naruto-kun?" and began walking towards the door.

Naruto gave a nervous chuckle as the Hokage began opening the door to the worried woman, who he knew was Morine Rea. Once the door was open he got a good look of the woman she was in her late 30s with a roundish face brown eyes that were currently displaying worry and a bit of panic and her black hair that reached to her upper back which was currently a mess she was panting as the door fully opened.

"Hokage-sama I'm so sorry to disturb you so late but Naruto has disappeared, I was going to the kitchen to get something to drink and on the way back decided to check in on the children. That's when I noticed Naruto was gone". She blurted out hurriedly

"Calm down Rea Naruto is fi-" Hiruzen started but got cut of by Rea "Please you have to send out people to look for him what if he's been kidnapped by another village?".

"He's just a boy and I can't lo-" She stopped herself when she noticed a tuft of blonde hair moving behind the man. "Naruto?" she asked.

Hiruzen gave a low chuckle at the woman's worry for Naruto it warmed his heart, he gave her a smile and let her in. She walked hurriedly towards the blonde and when he got into view she visibly relaxed, then she showed an expression of light anger.

"Naruto do you have any idea how worried i was!" she told him in a angry voice. "I'm sor-" Naruto started but got cut of "why would you go outside so late at night?" she continued and when she was finished she bent down and hugged him tightly.

"I was so worried something had happened to you" she whispered barely audible to the blonds ears. Naruto felt his eyes begin to water "I'm sorry I won't do it again" he said back.

Seeing their interaction Hiruzen smiled and decided to end things here so the two could get back to the orphanage "well me and Naruto-kun just got done talking so why don't you two head on home".

"But-" Naruto started but Rea interjected "no buts Naruto we're heading home and that's it, now say goodnight to the Hokage"

"Good night old-" Naruto stopped himself remembering Hiruzen's words from earlier, giving a light cough to hopefully cover up his blunder he corrected himself "Hokage-sama". Rea turned to the Hokage and apologized for the disturbance to which he said it was no problem ' _no need to mention I found him through my crystal ball, keeping an eye on a young container is a necessity while they're so young'_ he thought.

"Come now Naruto we're heading home" Rea said as she and Naruto started to walk home "goodnight to you Hokage-sama" she finished when they were through the door. "Night you two" Hiruzen replied back as he closed the door.

Once the door was closed he took his seat behind his desk and thought about what the future had to offer.

On the streets Rea and Naruto walked towards the orphanage, Rea had calmed down and was now back to her usual calm self but she still hadn't released his hand, not that he minded.

"You're grounded for a week" she said after a while "What!?" naruto exclaimed "but-" "no buts Naruto you're just six years old you can't just leave at night" she continued "You are to go to the academy then straight home okay?".

"Okay" Naruto muttered while hanging his head dejected but also a bit happy that she cared about him and had been worried about him.

Arriving at the orphanage Naruto noticed that the other children were asleep, Rea had sent him to the room he shared with a boy a bit older than him "Lee is still asleep" he muttered. He was too excited to sleep the Hokage had given him a lot to think about ' _he said he would tell me why people were avoiding me when I graduate so I might as well put some effort into it'_ thinking back to the "meeting" he had with the hokage he pulled out the book he got ' _I wonder who U.K is'_ he wondered for a brief second before diving into the book again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

It had been seven years since Naruto's talk with the Hokage, who Naruto had started calling old man whenever it were just the two of them. Naruto still didn't know why the adults was afraid of him but that would change this afternoon, today was graduation, he would finally become a ninja and he would hold Hiruzen to his promise.

A lot had happened in the last seven years first of all Naruto had taken Hiruzen's word to mind and decided to focus on training his body and mind first and foremost rather than focus on just ninja techniques, he had also gotten quite far in his sealing art studies. He had completed the book "An introduction to the art of sealing" the book which was once in a pristine condition now had multiple notes written in it. Though as it was an introduction to the sealing arts he hadn't learned anything to complex from it, mostly how to make storage scrolls, explosive seals and some seals that could restrict a person's movements. Though Naruto didn't find them hard to learn and using what he learned from the books to make his own seals, the Hokage was impressed when he found out.

 **Flashback**

Eight year old Naruto stood in front of the Hokage with a massive grin on his face, the reason? , The Hokage stood with a surprised expression on his face. In the Hokages hands was a sealing tag he had gotten from Naruto, which according to the boy was of his own creation, and looking at the seal he could see that it was a modified explosive seal and he could clearly see that it was Naruto's handwriting. Hiruzen scanned the seal, it was quite well made especially if you consider it was made by an eight year old, looking at said eight year old he asked "what is this seal Naruto-kun?".

To which Naruto's grin somehow grew larger and he replied "it's a smoke seal, go ahead use it" Hiruzen looked at the boy and decided he might as well give it a go knowing Naruto wouldn't give him anything dangerous, with that in mind he channeled some of his chakra into to seal. The moment he started he noticed that his office started to fill with smoke and within seconds his office was filled with enough smoke to completely blind him. "See isn't it awesome? With this seal you could make an fast escape from a stronger opponent" He heard Naruto's voice from within the smoke.

"It's quite a handy seal Naruto-kun" Hiruzen replied _'The Uzumaki blood is quite strong in him'_ He thought proudly. Noticing the anbu hidden in the room grow weary he decided to open a window to let the smoke out. With the smoke cleared he gave Naruto a smile and decided to give him some more books on sealing.

 **Present**

Remembering the books he got Naruto smiled needless to say he had completely fallen in love with sealing and delved into the books he had gotten from the Hokage. Thinking back to another incident that happened when he was eight he remembered the woman who helped him get his stealth down to a satisfactory level.

 **Flashback**

Naruto stood in a green field on one of Konoha's countless training grounds, he was trying to work on sneaking without the use of chakra by moving over different material from grass to gravel and all in between. With relative success but it still made noise and to an enemy ninja on alert that might give him away, he didn't want that. If he wanted to accomplish his goal he would need to be as silent as the wind, his goal was to become a ninja sure, that was every kids goal in Konoha. But he didn't want to become a ninja that just threw technique after technique at an enemy and hoping his would win. He wanted to take out his opponents without them even realising he was there, but at the same time be able to hold his own if he was found.

After failing to walk across gravel without a sound for the umptheened time he fell on his back ' _what am I doing wrong?'_ he wondered while staring at the sky, watching a cloud pass by faintly remembering a certain Nara classmate and friend of his.

His view was suddenly blocked out by a shadow, tilting his head back a bit more he was greeted with the sight of a woman that looked about looked to be in her late teens. She had purple hair in a spiky ponytail that pointed up and she had brownish pupiless eyes she also had a snake tooth as a necklace, she raised an eyebrow at Naruto and asked "Training your stealth brat?" Naruto stared at her for a while and replied "yeah how'd you know?".

She gave him a teasing grin and said "i've done something similar, but I thought brats your age was more interested in ninja techniques".

"I was but the Hokage told me a ninja should train their bodies and minds first and foremost and that there were more to being a ninja than ninja techniques" Naruto said back annoyed at being called a brat.

The woman looked at the boy with a contemplating expression on her face ' _interesting I wonder if he will keep doing this even after failing over and over again or if he will lose interest after a while'_ "keep trying brat" she said then went so sit under the shade of a tree keeping an eye on the boy.

"I will!" Naruto replied annoyed that she kept calling him brat, and went on to practice.

 **Present**

Thinking back to that time Naruto smiled, after several days she had decided to give him some pointers which helped him considerably and he had also gotten her name Mitarashi Anko. She had given him several pointers and not just for stealth but also infiltration and assassination in general, she had become something of a teacher to him. They also spent some time with each other outside of training and had gotten to know each other quite well over the years. She had even introduced Naruto to some of her friends like Inuzuka Hana and Yuhi Kurenai, Kurenai had given him some chakra control exercises after learning of his struggles with techniques like the clone technique. It was also during one of their training sessions that Naruto had found out he was a sensor he could somehow feel other people's chakra and their location.

Thinking about Anko also made him feel weird his heart would start beating faster and he would get butterflies in his stomach. After talking to Rea about it he found out that he had a crush on her, of course there was no way he would be able to hide his crush from Anko or her friends so he got teased quite frequently about it which would leave him as a blushing mess.

Leaving memory lane Naruto looked at the watch next to his bed ' _5.00 am huh'_ he thought, rising from the bed he started dressing. Opening his closet he took out his clothes which consisted of mostly orange with some blue by his shoulder waist and feet looking next to those clothes there was a set of black clothes that he had bought for when he was sent on missions. Leaning against the side of the closet was a tanto of about 30 cm, 10 cm being the handle. Looking at the weapon he remembered how he tried to buy it on his own only to be told by the store owner he needed an parent/guardian with him.

He had tried to buy it with the money he got from Rea as an allowance, which every child at the orphanage got every month, the amount varying depending on the age of the child. Turns out Hiruzen increased the funds to the orphanage and with the increase in money Rea had decided to give the children a small amount to do with as they pleased.

Returning to his previous thoughts he remember being told by the shopkeeper that they didn't sell weapons to children, even after telling the shopkeeper that he was a ninja in training he wasn't allowed to buy weapons granted there were blunted kunai and shuriken student's could buy for practice but they were no fun. They always bounced of targets so unless you had good memory you would be hard pressed to notice if your aim had gotten better.

So after a bit of pleading with Rea she had gone with him but she had forbidden him from training using them without adult supervision or until he had graduated, which meant asking Anko, Hana or Kurenai whenever they had time and weren't out on mission. So Naruto usually ended up training with one of the three women and they usually gave him pointers on how to increase his aim too.

Taking his kunai holder and strapping it to his thigh and attaching his pouch to his waist he took a look around the room, he no longer had a roommate, Lee had moved out after he had become a ninja. Naruto sort of missed him sure he was loud and a bit weird but he trained more than anyone else to achieve his dream which made it hard to hate the guy if anything Naruto had a lot of respect for him.

After Lee had moved out Naruto had the room to himself and with only one bed in it now the room seemed a lot larger. The extra space was nice since he could now do some physical exercises in his room. In the middle of the room was a desk and above the desk was a window. On the wall was a couple of shelves with books on them, the books were about sealing, poison making and etc, things he thought would be of use for a ninja. Looking at the watch above the door he saw it was 5.30 am and decided to head to the kitchen to help Rea with breakfast like he did every morning.

Leaving his room and heading down the stairs he heard Rea moving around _'probably to start cooking breakfast'_ arriving at the kitchen he saw Rea start to prepare for breakfast she turned towards Naruto and greeted him and he greeted her back. Rea was now in her early 40s, she had some slight crows feet by her eyes but she still remained kind and loving towards the children in the orphanage. She stopped what she was doing to give Naruto a hug then she went back to preparing.

Naruto wasn't much of a cook but he did what he could to help ease her workload, mainly small things like squeezing oranges to make orange juice and the like.

Shortly after the other children started pouring into the kitchen and after exchanging morning greetings they started eating and as usual Rea's cooking was amazing. After breakfast Naruto prepared to head out saying bye to the other children and Rea, opening the door he headed out towards the academy.

On the way towards the academy Naruto saw Anko leaning against a building looking as if she was deep in thought "Anko-chan!" Naruto called "what are you doing here?".

Anko having heard Naruto turned towards him and gave him a smile "I'm waiting for you of course" she said while rolling her eyes "I came to wish you luck on the examinations today, Hana and Kurenai sends their wishes as well" she finished.

Naruto gave a light blush hearing her first sentence and by the time she finished talking he gave her a genuine heartfelt smile "Thank you Anko-chan I'll do my best" he replied. She decided not to tease him today despite how much she wished to, figuring it might have an effect on his examination "well I gotta hurry, Hokage-sama wanted to see me, probably another mission if it is we'll celebrate your graduation when I get back okay?" she finished while ruffling Naruto's hair.

Naruto got annoyed, he hated being treated like a kid especially by her but at the same tame he enjoyed the attention she gave him. "Okay I'll graduate for sure" he replied to her while giving a confident smile. Anko gave him a light flick on the forehead with her index finger and said "of course you will that was never in question, although if you do fail I guess I have to give you some special training" as she finished her sentence her eyes flashed dangerously and she gave a dark chuckle. As she began walking away towards the Hokage building near the mountain she waved her hand over her shoulder and bid Naruto goodbye.

"R-rig-right" was all Naruto stammer out as she walked away, the thought of Anko's Special training horrifying him. He might a large crush on the woman but she still terrified him sometimes. He decided to start heading towards the academy once again.

Arriving at the entrance to academy the large building where he had spent the majority of his life training to become a ninja, the thought of leaving it behind left him feeling a little sad. Entering the building he headed towards his classroom.

Upon arriving and sliding the door open, he was assaulted by the sound of excited children, sighing at the loud noises he took a seat next to Uchiha Sasuke one of the students he managed to befriend. Sitting down he noticed Sasuke give him a glance through the corner of his eye, "loser" Sasuke said while giving Naruto a slight nod.

"Emo" Naruto greeted back. Naruto might be friends, rivals even but ever since the Uchiha massacre Sasuke had started brooding more. Nothing to bad but he wasn't as talkative as he once was. Naruto still remembered that time, Sasuke had completely stopped talking to anyone after the incident. Naruto had figured that he might need some space but after one month of emo behaviour he had gotten tired of it. Naruto understood that it couldn't have been easy having his whole family and clan murdered in cold blood by his own brother, but drowning in negative thoughts for that long wasn't healthy either. So he had let Sasuke know he was there for him if he needed to talk which led to some words from Sasuke, "I don't need to talk I just need to getter stronger so I can kill Itachi and revenge my clan" being some of them. Eventually it devolved into a fist fight, Naruto had figured out that Sasuke was just venting his sorrow since he wasn't using his usual fighting style that he used during spars.

Although Naruto got a bit angry at being used like a punching bag he knew Sasuke needed to vent so he let him while getting a few hits in himself. After all was said and done the two boys laid on the ground panting.

 **Flashback**

Naruto and Sasuke laid on the ground panting out of breath both of their bodies hurt "what the hell Sasuke I just want to help you" Naruto panted out between breaths "I know, I'm sorry I don't know what came over me" Sasuke replied his voice quivering. Looking over Naruto saw that he had laid his forearm over his eyes, knowing Sasuke hated showing weakness in front of others he looked around and finally said "Sasuke it's okay to cry, no ones around".

Sasuke didn't say anything he just laid on the ground but Naruto could hear light sobs coming from him "It's okay to let it out Sasuke it would be weirder if you didn't cry over the loss of your family" Naruto said "gods knows I would be bawling my eyes out if anything ever happened to Rea" he finished still regaining his breath.

Finally Sasuke talked in a choked voice "I don't know what to do Naruto I'm just so angry and frustrated" he finished while punching the ground next to him. Naruto looked at his friend sympathetically what he said earlier was true, he didn't know how he would act if Rea was murdered, crying his eyes out would be the first thing but then what? The woman is the closest thing he's ever had to a mother. Sasuke's actual mother had been murdered by her own son no less, Naruto was at a loss.

"I don't know how to help you get over your grief Sasuke" he started "but I'm here for you if you want talk or if you need a shoulder to lean on". "That's gay Naruto" Sasuke choked out in reply. Naruto frowned ' _defense mechanism'_ he thought "I'm serious Sasuke, you're one of my best friends and I hate seeing you like this" Naruto finished while sitting up.

After a moment of silence Sasuke also sat up and looked at Naruto, his eyes were red and he had tears running down his cheeks "I know I'm sorry" he said. Naruto walked over and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and said "If you want to talk then I'll listen but don't shut yourself in". With that they both spent the rest of that day with Sasuke letting his grief out and Naruto being a supportive presence.

 **Present**

Thinking back to it their friendship had gotten stronger since that incident. Not seeing anything interesting going on in the classroom Naruto took out another book on sealing and starting reading. Sasuke seeing his friend take out a book look towards him then said "that's another book on sealing?".

"Yup" Naruto replied, Sasuke spoke again "I don't understand how you can make sense out of those squiggles" while looking over Naruto's shoulder. Naruto shrugged "I don't know either it just makes sense sort of like how you're with ninja techniques" he retorted to Sasuke, this was usual Sasuke being agitated that Naruto was so good at something he had no idea about while Naruto was slightly jealous of Sasuke and his ability to learn complex techniques. Hey Naruto might have given up on living the ninja life of the technique throwers but spitting out fireballs is pretty awesome. Their rivalry was always like this Sasuke getting agitated when he noticed Naruto do something new and Naruto envying Sasuke's ability to learn ninja techniques, that and Sasuke's chakra control. Naruto's chakra control wasn't bad mind you but it left much to be desired, Kurenai had done what she could going so far as to even tell Naruto about the tree walking exercise even though most people don't learn about that until after they've become genin. In terms of size tough Naruto won, if it was a competition which it wasn't.

Hearing the door slide open he saw two girls walk in one of them having pink hair and greenish eyes, the other girl had blonde hair and blueish eyes ' _Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino'_ he thought. Ino walked up to him and Sasuke, Naruto rolled his eyes ' _here we go again'_ he thought. Ino flashed her eyes at Naruto and asked him "Naruto could you please move so I can sit next to Sasuke?" Naruto looked at her blankly and said "No" then he shifted his eyes to sakura noticing she was avoiding his eyes and even gave a small flinch. He sighed remembering what had caused this behaviour.

 **Flashback**

"Hey Naruto what are you doing?" Sakura asked having watched Naruto draw symbols and lines on a piece of paper "hush Sakura I'm concentrating" Naruto replied. Sakura not appreciating being told off in such a manner tried to snatch the piece of paper "hey do-" Naruto started, he had worked on a seal that would paralyze whoever it was attached to but it was still a project not a finished seal, alas he was to late the moment she grabbed it. It activated and she froze then fell over.' _she must have used chakra to enhance her speed which caused the seal to activate'._ Giving a worried expression he checked her over while at the same time a teacher came over "what happened here?" she asked.

Naruto busy checking over Sakura to make sure he hadn't accidentally killed a classmate, didn't pay much attention to her luckily one of his friends Nara Shikamaru spoke up for him "Naruto was working on a seal, Sakura tried to snatch it" scratching his head he spoke again "the result is as you can see" motioning with his hand to the situation at hand.

Naruto gave a small smile ' _typical Shikamaru short and to the point'_ he thought. The teacher looked at Naruto and spoke "well" she stopped herself sealing was a dying art not many people knew about it "can you fix it?" she finished honestly she was at a loss. Naruto replied "well it was a work in progress an-" "what does that mean, you can't fix it?" the teacher interjected. Naruto grew a little nervous "give me a moment" he went back to checking over the seal. Ten minutes later with the attention of the whole class on him he finally said "I don't think I can fix this we should probably send for the Hokage" and before anyone could interrupt he hastily added "she's alive though so there's that" he started to look around nervously.

The teacher grew a little panicky and rushed of to get the Hokage she really didn't want to have a child die during class, she had only been a teacher for a short time.

Moments later the teacher came back with the Hokage who took note of the situation having already gotten a rushed version of the events from the woman that came to get him. He squatted down next to Naruto while giving him a blank look, Naruto hurriedly tried to explain himself "it wasn't my fault sh-" "I know Naruto-kun but you should have acted faster to prevent this from happening" Hiruzen interjected "I know I was just surprised" Naruto whispered out in reply.

Hiruzen started to look over the seal secretly impressed by what he saw ' _giving him that book on sealing was definitely the right call, the boy is gonna go far'_ after looking over the seal for a while. The teacher getting more and more nervous as time went on, the Hokage rose and clapped his hands and said "honestly I'm at a bit of an loss here" before anyone could interrupt he continued "we'll get her to an hospital while I'll start working on a counter seal" looking at Naruto he continued "I'm going to want your help Naruto-kun" "of course" Naruto replied.

 **Present**

In the end it had taken three days to come up with counter seal and after that he had gotten a stern talking to from the Hokage about being more careful when making new seals. He had also heard that Hiruzen had talked to Sakura about the consequences of interrupting a seal user when they're working.

All in all Sakura had survived so in Naruto's mind everything was fine but Sakura had grown weary of him now. He had apologized several times already ' _even though it was_ _technically_ _her own fault'_. After a bit of back and forth with Ino about who would get to sit next to Sasuke the teachers finally arrived, Ino went and sat next to Sakura who had found a seat elsewhere when she saw Naruto siting next to Sasuke.

The two teachers Umino Iruka and Mizuki were going to be in charge of their examination. Iruka one of Naruto's favorite teachers was a man in his early 20s, he had brown hair set up in a ponytail and black eyes he also had a large scar going over the bridge of his nose. Mizuki was a man in his late 20s he had white hair and light grey eyes, he was one of Naruto's least favorite teachers.

Iruka clapped his hands to get the class's attention once he was sure the ninja hopefuls were listening he started talking "today's your last day of exams" he started and before he could continue a boisterous shout was heard from one of the boys "hell yea! No more exams" with similar cheers breaking out amongst the class. Naruto smiled knowing who the first voice belonged to Inuzuka Kiba Hanas younger brother and another friend of his.

Iruka deciding to let the children have their moment of fun waited for a few minutes then he clapped his hands again, and again not getting their attention he spoke out "quiet down!" in a strong voice which managed to get everyone's attention. Letting the children settle down he continued "we will begin with a sparring exam outside, you will either go up against me or Mizuki and ninja techniques are allowed" with that everyone moved outside to a ring that had been prepared.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

As the exam went on some people passed and some failed, the rules were simple manage four minutes against one of the teachers or somehow beat them. This might seem easy, until you realize both teachers are chunin rank ninja while they weren't even genin, and it showed. Kiba who bragged about how easy it would be hardly managed the four minute mark and when he did he was beat up quite badly. The same could be said for everyone else that passed some of those that failed had even blacked out. Though Naruto understood the reason for this and why the chunin were so tough to them it was either this or graduate unprepared and die in the field. The rest of their training would be taken care of by their jounin teacher.

Finally his name was called up at the same time as Sasuke's, Naruto got paired up with Iruka while Sasuke got Mizuki. Moving in to the ring opposite of Iruka Naruto sized him up seeing Iruka's eyes do the same to him it was then Naruto realised, Iruka was serious.

At an unheard signal Iruka moved faster than Naruto ever thought Iruka was capable of and within a split second Iruka had closed the distance Naruto barely had enough time to throw up his arm's in a defensive pose before Iruka's knee crashed into them.

Jumping back a bit Naruto realised it hurt like hell and his forearms throbbed unpleasantly he managed to remain focused on Iruka though remembering the words Hana had once told him during a light spar ' _eyes on the prey, not the horizon'_ with those words echoing in his mind he pulled out four shuriken and let them fly towards their target.

Iruka dodged of course but in that split second Naruto pulled out a small marble sized ball from his pouch and let it drop towards the ground, the moment it landed it had already started filling the ring with thick smoke. If there was one thing Naruto had worked on more than anything it was his chakraless stealth, moving across the gravel with barely a sound he heard Sasuke fighting Mizuki, he was thankful that they went at the same time cause their fighting was drowning the small amounts of noise he did make. He used his sensory abilities that he had developed, to find Iruka's position, finding it he noticed Iruka had moved and was now where Naruto had started out. Moving towards him and silently taking out a kunai he planned to give a quick killing blow, the kunai was of course blunted as was the shuriken he had used earlier but landing a killing blow with a blunted weapon would still count as a victory. Moving closer at a steady pace he readied himself and made to strike towards Iruka's kidneys, the kunai connected but Naruto's victory was short lived as the Iruka in front of him poofed out and was replaced with a wooden log _'Substitution'_ he thought and was on full alert. Feeling something sharp point at his own kidneys he knew it was Iruka.

Iruka had been impressed by Naruto's quick thinking and fast reflex at the beginning and even more impressed by his stealth, to be honest he hadn't heard him come up behind him it was just from experience that he managed a substitution before Naruto managed to get a killing blow in. Now that he had Naruto at knife point, really kunai point, he was just about to finish it when the Naruto in front of him disappeared in a poof of smoke and was replaced with a wooden log, only this one had a burning sealtag on it, and it was just about to go of. Within a split second Iruka distanced himself from the log and a heartbeat later it exploded.

It wasn't a full on explosive tag, it was a modified tag made to be weaker than usual, it was supposed to be used for precise demolition work, for example leveling a pillar to the ground while keeping the surroundings as intact as possible, anyway it was a pet project of Naruto's. Although it did have the side effect of clearing up the smoke screen ' _crap'_ Naruto thought standing opposite of Iruka again he barely had enough time to prepare himself before Iruka came at him.

Iruka threw strikes and kicks at Naruto which he barely had enough time to redirect or dodge, the style Naruto had developed with Anko and her friend's help relied on redirection and dodging to get an opportunity to strike at a weak spot, lock up joints by grappling or hit a pressure point. Naruto's fighting style had reminded others of the way the Hyuga clan fought although Naruto could only hit general pressure points nothing as fine tuned as the Hyuga's. As he was dodging and redirecting he tried to get some strikes in but Iruka was faster and stronger than him, the strikes and kicks he had to block were heavy and his stamina was draining. He managed to get a hit in on Iruka's solar plexus and went to deliver a killing blow with another kunai but Iruka somehow managed to recover in time to grab his wrist, at the same time he felt a brief explosion of heat on his back and knew Sasuke had just fired of a Great fireball technique. Iruka looked to be in great discomfort his eyes were strained, he kicked Naruto in his stomach sending flying backwards towards Sasuke.

Apparently Mizuki had sent Sasuke flying as well and they collided in the middle quickly rising up they stood back to back both panting heavily.

"Sasuke" Naruto started "yea?" Sasuke finished "you got another fireball in you?" Naruto decided to ask thinking of a collaborate move they had practiced. "Yeah, you wanna do that?" Sasuke replied "yeah do it" Iruka had started to recover same could be said for Mizuki. After a moment's hesitation Sasuke went through the hand signs and took a deep breath, while Naruto whipped out four kunai with tags attached to them.

Mizuki seeing Sasuke take a breath flashed through some hand signs and spat out mud from his mouth creating a protective wall. Iruka seeing Naruto take out kunai started sprinting towards him while taking out his own kunai to deflect the incoming ones.

As Iruka got closer and made to strike at Naruto who had drawn his hand back to release the kunai, Naruto disappeared and was replaced with Sasuke who let his fireball technique fly the moment he and Naruto switched place and struck Iruka, engulfing him in flames. While naruto let his kunai fly at the same moment as Sasuke aiming for them to land slightly behind and to the sides of the protective wall and landing in a square with Mizuki in the middle.

The moment Naruto had thrown the kunai he went through a few hand signs and the moment the kunai landen in four quick thuds, the seals activated. Raising a barrier with Mizuki trapped inside while at the same time releasing a barely visible smoke.

Mizuki barely had enough time to process what was going on before he started to feel the effect of the smoke, making him light headed and dizzy. Before he knew it he was out like a light.

Iruka was quick to react, figuring Sasuke had intentionally weakened his fireball technique as to not kill the man, Iruka dropped to the ground and rolled putting out the flames. The moment they were out and he rose preparing to face of against Sasuke he felt a blunt kunai connect with his jugular, meaning he had lost. Had it been a real kunai he would have bled and died within seconds.

Naruto and Sasuke stood still for a moment still back to back panting heavily "can't believe that worked" Sasuke said in a surprised voice still trying to regain his breath "me neither" Naruto replied in a similar manner.

Iruka stood still taking in the haggard appearances of the two boys internally proud of them but also slightly embarrassed at having lost to some students. Finally he said "well done you two, both of you pass". Before anyone could get a word in someone yelled from the stunned crowd "they cheated!". Hearing that Naruto and Sasuke grew somewhat nervous thinking that they might get disqualified but Iruka's next words put those worries to rest "we never said you couldn't work together" and with that the physical exams were over.

Having moved back into to the classroom to continue with the rest of the exams after having sent the student's that failed home and having woken up Mizuki who was irritated at having lost like that and especially to Naruto of all people. Iruka clapped his hands to get the student's attention "we will now move on the written test" which managed to dampen several student's mood.

The teacher's handed out papers to everyone. "you have one hour to answer the questions" Iruka started "once the time's up put down your pencils and wait until we gather the papers" he finished while at the same time giving them clearance to start.

The questions varied from "what would you do in a situation where you had to choose between your comrades life's and completing a mission" to "in the instance of an attack on the village who would you prioritize helping, the Hokage or the civilian population?".

Naruto looked over the questions and answered according to his own moral compass and having thought over the questions. For example if he had to choose to save a fellow ninja's life that didn't necessarily have to mean that he had to abandon the mission he just had to give a quick temporary retreat.

After one hour had passed Iruka gave a short sharp whistle to signal the end of the time limit. The rest of the student's laid down their pencils and laid their hands on their knees. After Iruka and Mizuki had collected the papers they moved straight to the last exam. The exam where the student's proficiency in ninja techniques would be tested. You just had to execute three simple techniques the substitution technique, the clone technique and the transformation technique.

As Iruka and Mizuki called out student's for their examination, Naruto waited anxiously, he knew he had the transformation and substitution techniques down to a capital T, but when it came to the clone technique he knew, he was fucked.

No matter how much he practiced the clone technique and his chakra control he couldn't get the technique down. Finally hearing his name come up he went towards the door that led to the examination room walking by Sasuke who had his headband around his forehead showing he had passed. "Goodluck Naruto" Sasuke said as Naruto walked by "Thanks" he replied.

Entering the room he saw Iruka and Mizuki sitting behind a desk with headbands lined up on it, he noticed quite few were missing meaning a good portion had passed the exams. Iruka gave Naruto an encouraging smile and said "you can start with whatever technique you want" and continued "please, go ahead whenever you're ready".

Naruto took a deep breath and decided to start with the transformation technique. Only needing to make the ram hand seal to execute the technique he transformed into an exact copy of Iruka even going as far as to replicate his standing pose and manner of speak. Naruto had analysed Iruka's body and speaking habits during his years as a student, he did want to become a infiltration and assassination specialist after all.

Iruka looked him over secretly impressed as was Mizuki despite holding a hatred for the boy. As naruto released the technique he used the substitution technique without needing a single hand seal and switched place with Iruka before Iruka could react Naruto had switched back giving Iruka vertigo.

Having recuperated Iruka noted something down in his notes and started "very good Naruto" and finished with "now the last technique".

Naruto took a deep breath and went through the hand seals ' _ram, snake and tiger'_ he reminded himself and in a poof of smoke a clone of Naruto appeared beside him, only the clone was white as a ghost and laying on the ground as if it was dying.

Iruka and Mizuki seeing this gave a sad sigh, Iruka more so than Mizuki. Iruka finally said "I'm sorry Naruto but you fail" leaving Naruto in daze.

Naruto left the room not even listening to what else Iruka had to say ' _I failed'_ he thought walking past his friends he noticed them giving him sympathetic looks even Sakura seemed to feel bad for him.

Leaning against a tree in the courtyard of the academy naruto looked on gloomily as the other student's that had passed was greeted by their parents proud words. Seeing Hana who had come together with her mother, Inuzuka Tsume, greet Kiba on his graduation, look at him with a sad but understanding look. Naruto saw her say something to her mother and little brother then walk towards him, as she arrived she started saying "I'm sorry Nar-" "don't be, it's not your fault" Naruto interrupted then he continued "I know you want to comfort me but you don't have to, you should go with the rest of your family and celebrate Kiba's graduation" he finished as he gave her a somewhat sad smile. Hana looked at him sadly then she gave him a tight hug "you'll definitely pass next year" she said as she released him from the hug and went back to her mother and brother.

Seeing the other student's walk away with their families Naruto decided he might as well get home, but before he could get moving he saw Mizuki walk towards him.

As Mizuki got closer he started speaking "I'm sorry you didn't pass Naruto" and continued "you know failing you hurted Iruka more than anything he had really high hopes for you". Hearing that Naruto started getting a little teary eyed Iruka was the one teacher who had really gotten close to him, he was pretty much like an older brother to Naruto. Looking down to the ground while letting a tear fall down his cheek Naruto heard Mizuki start speaking again "but it's not a lost cause just yet" he started with a somewhat sinister look in his eye "there is a special exam all you have to do is sneak into the Hokage's office and steal the scroll of seals" he finished. Naruto hearing that they was something called the scroll of seals got excited immediately and that he could still graduate if he completed this exam "ok I'll do it" Naruto said. Mizuki grew a somewhat excited smile and said "good meet me in the forest northeast of the Hokage's tower after you've taken the scroll and I'll make sure you pass".

Naruto headed towards the orphanage deciding to sneak in through his window to avoid attention, he didn't want to meet Rea right now, he needed to focus on the task at hand. Hearing Rea downstairs he moved stealthily towards his closet and took out his black outfit that he had bought. Stripping out of his orange clothes he put on the black ones. The outfit was pretty much all black, it consisted of a face mask that covered his lower face up to over the bridge of his nose, a torso piece that left his arms bear from the shoulder down, on his forearms he had black arm guards that was connected to his black fingerless gloves. His pants was also black but on the sides of his thighs were small hoops where he could place kunai for easy access and quick draw, three on each thigh. His feet was covered in black as well and he had black shin guards that went up to his kneecaps and on the top of his head was a black helmet that covered his blonde hair, it had a matte steel piecie on his forehead that went over half of his skull and down somewhat near his eyes, the head piece also let down some black cloth over his ears which he head inscribed a seal on which would let sound pass through as if the cloth wasn't even there.

Looking over himself in the mirror that was in his room he gave himself and approving nod ' _I look pretty damn good if I do say so myself'_. Naruto picked up his tanto and placed it across his lower back and placed six kunai in each hoop, three on each thigh.

Sneaking back out he decided to wait for nightfall to make his move.

 **AN**

Let me know how the fight scene were and if I need to add or remove anything.

As for the clothes Naruto put on in the end just imagine Hayabusa's outfit from Ninja Gaiden.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Night had fallen over Konoha.

Naruto made his way towards The Hokage's tower, utilising his stealth he moved through various alleyways to stay out of sight from the various ninja's that went to and from his destination, either they had gotten a mission to go on or they returned from one and was going to give their report.

Seeing his destination Naruto decided to move around towards the back of the building. Over the last seven years Naruto had gone to meet the Hokage several times either to get help with his sealing techniques or just to have a chat with the old man, so he had gotten quite a good feel for the place and the schedule of the people working here. Right now he knew there was only the secretary there who were always there, the secretary working on an rotational shift with two other people. The three people who served as secretaries each worked eight hours a day, so there were always someone there to receive whoever visited the tower seeking help or needing to book a meeting with the Hokage, after all ninja's work day in and out. There is always ninja's moving out and in, from and back from various missions regardless of the time of day.

With that in mind Naruto knew the Hokage had already went home for the day and wouldn't be back unless some emergency happened. Which meant getting past the anbu stationed around and inside the building as well as the secretary. If the secretary was the civilian he thought, then it would be like stealing candy from a baby, however it could also be the kunoichi that started taking less dangerous jobs ever since she gave birth. Which would make it significantly harder, before she had taken a step back from the field work she had been a jounin ranked ninja, still was though it's been a while since she's been active.

The reason he was unsure of who would serve as the secretary now was because the Hokage changed their shift irregularly as a defensive system against would be attackers. Beside even if he get past the secretary he had to evade the anbu. The anbu was a special undercover unit that mostly went on A and S ranked missions and they consisted of the elite jounin ninja's of the village meaning if Naruto came across one, he'd be fucked and not in a good way.

Thinking over his options Naruto considered using the transformation technique to turn into the Hokage, but decided against it since the anbu would most likely see right through it. Another option would be to create a distraction but ultimately that might attract more attention than he's comfortable with.

At last he decided to try the old fashioned way, stealth, after all people have a tendency to overlook the simplest things like not looking up when entering a room. Having the decided his course of action he made to move towards the window that was connected to the Hokages office where the scroll of seals was, as he was moving he kept his sensory ability on high alert. Sensing the secretary _'it was the kunoichi'_ he remarked to himself, he continued moving. He could faintly sense the ninja's moving around in the building, which wasn't unusual, however he couldn't sense the anbu in the building ' _shit even though I didn't think I would be able to sense them it's still discomforting knowing they're around'._ Of course he knew the anbu were there, it was common knowledge that there were anbu stationed inside and around the Hokage tower. Despite his discomfort with the new information he still couldn't stop himself from admiring the anbu _'they're like ghosts'_ he thought, which was his ultimate goal as a ninja, being undetectable and striking fear into the heart's of others without even having to show himself.

Standing under the window at ground level he noticed that there was no way for him to get up without using chakra and using chakra might alert the hidden anbu so he decided to take the longer way. Moving away from his position he moved towards the building too the left of the main building since the two were connected. Seeing a thick cable strung along the outside leading vertically upwards he decided that it was his way in. Using the cable as a foot hold he slowly made his way up towards the roof, reaching the roof he jumped on to the main building which contained the Hokage's office and made his way towards the large window that overlooked the village. Arriving above the window he leaned forward supporting himself with his forearms, feeling the blood rush to his head he peeked into the window scanning the interior, not seeing anyone he decided to use his skills as a sensor to see if he could sense anyone inside the office ' _the closer I am the better'_ during his training he had noticed that he could sense chakra closer to him better, so in theory if there were any anbu inside he should get a faint feeling of chakra inside the room. After concentrating for about 30 seconds and not feeling anything he decided to risk it.

After having dropped to the window sill below he gave the window a light push and as he expected it gave way the Hokage had a bad habit of leaving the window slightly open during the night to make sure the office wasn't hot as a oven during the days. Having made a small opening Naruto squeezed in, landing on the floor Naruto scanned the room once more and stood still in case there was an anbu in the room. Not having been killed yet and not having felt any presence Naruto gave a sigh of relief ' _the gamble paid of'_ he thought standing up straight he moved noiselessly across the floor towards the small corridor in the corner of the room. Moving down the corridor while keeping his sensory ability on full alert he arrived at the closed door, scanning the door and not noticing any sort of trap he tried to open it, alas it was locked. Though that was no problem for him taking out a kunai he started to pick the lock. Not having the proper tools made it into quite a challenge ' _I'm going to have to invest in a lockpicking kit'_ he thought to himself. Some odd minute later the door gave way sheathing his kunai back on his thigh he moved into the room.

Inside the room were countless books and scrolls looking around he searched for anything that would indicate were the scroll he was looking for was. After about 30 seconds of looking around he found what he was looking for. The scroll of seals was thick, thicker than he had expected but he picked it up nonetheless. Just it having the name "scroll of seals" was enough for Naruto to get excited, anything related to sealing did, so while carefully strapping the scroll to his back he started to walk out of the room. Closing the door after him and resetting the lock, which took him about about as much time as it did unlocking it. He moved towards the window to make his escape, as he was walking across the floor he heard the door to the office begin to open. Thinking quickly he jumped towards the ceiling, grabbing on to one of the beams that ran along it. Suppressing his chakra also meant not using it to hold on to the ceiling beam, which meant he had to rely on his muscles, luckily the were some space between the beam and the actual ceiling so he could get a proper grip. Hearing the door open fully he focused on breathing as quietly as possible, not daring to look down he stayed where he was closing his eyes to focus on the person with his ears.

Hearing the person walk inside and then stop moving he waited with baited breath until he heard the person move towards the door again. Hearing the door close Naruto gave a sigh of relief and dropped to the floor. Landing caused a bit more sound than he was comfortable after staying on the spot he landed on for a few seconds and having nothing happen he started stalking towards the window again.

Once outside he didn't bother with going back the way he came, gripping the window sill with one hand and hanging of it he pushed the walls with his legs and let go of the sill. Seeing the ground approach rapidly he prepared his knees and landed into a roll then he made his way towards the forest northeast of the tower as stealthily as possible as to not attract attention from anyone.

Arriving at the forest some odd ten minutes later he looked around for Mizuki, seeing the man lean against a tree he walked towards him.

"Mizuki-sensei I got the scroll" Naruto started then continued "does that mean I pass?" he asked. Mizuki seeing the boy with the scroll on his back was internally surprised ' _he managed to steal the scroll without bringing the entire village on to him?'_ Mizuki thought but he said "well done Naruto, now give it to me".

Naruto looked at him wearily and asked "why do you want the scoll?" "it doesn't matter brat" Mizuki replied deciding to drop his mask.

"Once I'll kill you demon I'll give the scroll to Orochimaru-sama and he'll give me unlimited power muhahaha" Mizuki said devolving into a mad laughter at the end.

"So it's like the old man suspected" Naruto muttered out "what?" Mizuki said ending his mad induced laughter.

"It's of no matter to you Mizuki" Naruto replied then continued "I'll just have to bring you to the Hokage'.

"You defeat me?, preposterous!" Mizuki exclaimed then continued "I'm a chunin ninja you're nothing more than a graduate failure".

"Believe what you want" Naruto stated then flinged a kunai at the man, Mizuki dodged the kunai making it sink into the tree he had previously leaned against. Looking back at Naruto with a mocking grin he said "is that the best you can do?".

Naruto just looked at him blankly for a second then the tree behind Mizuki exploded sending him flying, seems like Mizuki didn't notice the explosive seal tag attached to the kunai in his arrogance. Taking advantage of the situation he pulled out a few smoke pellets and let them drop to the ground, creating a thick smoke screen within seconds.

Using the smoke Naruto moved stealthily into the shrubbery around him he heard Mizuki call out "where are you demon brat!?" _'there it is again, why is he calling me a demon?'_ Naruto pondered while keeping an eye on Mizuki using his sensory ability.

Mizuki not being able to see anything because of the smoke decided to try and agitate Naruto to make him come out of hiding "you know why nobody likes you right?" which peaked Naruto's interest but he decided to keep quiet.

Mizuki not hearing anything from Naruto decided to continue "it's because you're a demon Naruto" he started "you know of the Kyuubi right?".

' _Of course I know of the demonic beast that attacked thirteen years ago'_ thought Naruto, but he remained quiet.

"Well that beast was sealed into you by the fourth Hokage" Mizuki started again "you know what that means right?" he asked and before giving Naruto any time to respond he stated "it means you are the demon beast that attacked thirteen years ago!"

Naruto started to understand what had happened ' _so the fourth sealed the demonic beast inside of me?'_ it made sense he was born on the same day that the Kyuubi had attacked and from what he could deduce the container probably needed to be young, and the younger the better. Otherwise the fourth would probably have sealed it inside himself if the stories about him and his kindness were to be believed, that's why the general public was weary of him they didn't understand anything about sealing and how it worked. Not that he could blame them most ninja didn't know anything about the sealing art, but he did ' _so the demonic beast is sealed inside of me'_ he thought his mind racing with different thoughts the prominent being ' _the sealing killing the fourth doesn't sound unreasonable, but what happened to my parents? Did they believe the rumors?'_ and the second most prominent being ' _do Anko know?_.

Deciding that he didn't have time for such thoughts and that it was better to ask the Hokage and Anko later he decided to focus on the task at hand, which was to capture Mizuki and if there was no other way, kill him.

Moving to get behind Mizuki he noticed the man in question start to throw kunai and shuriken at random in different directions in a desperate attempt to force Naruto out of hiding.

Naruto keeping himself hidden and moving ever closer to Mizuki making sure to dodge any projectile heading his way quietly, he took out a sealing tag from his pouch which was attached underneath his tanto he readied the tag by going through a few hand seals. Noticing that the smoke screen was about to fade he moved in to make the capture. Coming up behind him Naruto slapped the tag onto Mizuki's back and having already gone through the seals it activated immediately.

Before Mizuki could even turn towards him, he had already been paralysed falling towards the ground, Naruto did nothing to catch him letting him hit the ground.

With the smoke screen finally fading Naruto went to pick up the paralysed Mizuki only to notice a bunch of anbu ninjas drop into the scene. A female anbu ninja with long purple hair walked towards him, he recognised her or rather her hair, she had given her pointers when it came to using his tanto ' _Uzuki Yugao'_ Naruto thought, another one of Anko's friends.

As she arrived in front of him she spoke "we'll take it from here Naruto-kun" "of course Yu-" Naruto started but stopped himself giving a slight cough to hopefully cover up his blunder then he continued "Neko-chan" he said calling her that based of off the mask she wore.

He felt Yugao give him a piercing stare through the mask so he decided to get moving "well I better get going and report to the Hokage" he said as he moved away from her and towards the Hokage tower.

"You do that Naruto-kun" she added as he began to walk away.

Arriving at the Hokage's tower, still with the scroll of seals on his back, he walked through the main entrance walking past the secretary. The kunoichi that served as the secretary that night had probably gotten word of his arrival as she made no attempt to stop him or inquire about his business there.

Coming to a stop in front of the door that leads to the Hokage's office Naruto gave a knock, hearing Hiruzen's voice say "enter" Naruto opened the door and walked in.

Standing at attention in front of the Hokage with both his hands clasped behind his back Naruto waited for the Hokage to speak hearing the man say "report" Naruto started his report.

Naruto told the Hokage about how Mizuki had approached him after he had failed the exam and told him about the supposed "secret" exam and how he infiltrated the tower and stole the scroll to how he incapacitated Mizuki. As Naruto finished his report he laid the scroll on the desk in front of the Hokage while he said "that is all Hokage-sama".

Hiruzen hearing Naruto give his report beamed with pride Naruto had fulfilled his part to the letter although hearing that Mizuki had already told him about the Kyuubi saddened his mood a bit. As Naruto finished his report and laying the scroll on the table he said "I'm sorry you found out about the Kyuubi this way, I had hoped to tell you after you're graduation" Naruto hearing those words from the Hokage gave him a smile and said "it's okay old man I knew you were going to tell me".

"You don't have any questions?" Hiruzen asked a little surprised "no I mostly figured out what happened" Naruto replied. Before Hiruzen could say anything Naruto continued "I only wish to know what happened to my parents".

Before Hiruzen decided to tell Naruto about his parent he started with "first I want to congratulate you on a mission well done" then he continued "as we discussed the reward for the mission are three techniques which are the Shadow clone technique, Shadow kunai technique and Shadow shuriken technique" he finished.

Thinking back to when Hiruzen had first given him the mission, which was a day before the graduation exam. He remembered how he had been called to the Hokage's office and how Hiruzen had explained how they had caught wind of Orochimaru's plans to get the scroll of seals. Only that they didn't know who his inside man was. Hiruzen had given it a lot of thought and figured that it may be Mizuki. They had caught him acting suspiciously over the last several months. As such Hiruzen had given Naruto an A-ranked mission of apprehending Mizuki after making him show his true colours, and as a reward Naruto would get three techniques from the Hokage.

Hearing Naruto's wish Hiruzen thought ' _I don't see any harm in telling him about his mother, her marriage to Minato was kept a secret and if he looked through the registry of the village he would probably find her name and make a connection anyway'._

Having reached a course of action Hiruzen spoke up "well Naruto-kun your mother was an extraordinary woman" he started and seeing Naruto get excited he continued "her name was Uzumaki Kushina, she belonged to the Uzumaki clan" he finished.

Naruto was in a daze he finally the name of his mother "Uzumaki Kushina" he muttered faintly remembering the book Hiruzen had given him and asked "did she wri-" before he could finish his sentence Hiruzen interrupted "yes Naruto-kun she wrote the book I first gave you".

Naruto gave a smile hearing that, he was older now so he figured Hiruzen most likely had a reason for keeping this hidden from him, then he remembered what the old man had said "wait clan?!" Naruto exclaimed confused.

Hearing Naruto's exclamation Hiruzen gave a short chuckle "yes clan" he started "she belonged to the Uzumaki clan Naruto-kun, as do you" he finished. "Uzumaki clan" Naruto muttered "I belong to a clan?" he asked then continued before Hiruzen could say anything "why haven't they come to get me?" he asked.

Hearing Naruto's question Hiruzen gave a sad sigh "because Naruto-kun" he started "you're the only Uzumaki left that we know of" he finished. Hearing The old man's words Naruto grew somber "what do you mean old man?" he asked "the Uzumaki clan was wiped out by the joint effort of the land of lightning, land of water and the land of earth out of fear" Hiruzen finished.

"Fear?" Naruto asked "yes fear Naruto-kun, the Uzumaki's were masters in the sealing arts" Hiruzen replied "that mastery made the other villages fear them so they teamed up and attacked the Uzumakis" Hiruzen said then continued "The Uzumaki tried to send word to Konoha but by the time we got their message, it was already to late" Hiruzen finished as he looked at Naruto sadly.

Naruto was stunned into silence, he was the only Uzumaki left? While sad over the decimation of his clan he decided that what was done was done. It was too late to do anything about it now so he would simply honor his clan by becoming even better in the sealing arts and he would do his best to restore the clan ' _hopefully with Anko'_ he idly thought before shaking his head dispelling those thoughts.

"Do you have anything from my mother?" he asked the Hokage "a picture or something? Anything will do" he finished. Hiruzen having heard the boy opened his desk drawer, pulled out a photo and handed it to Naruto.

Naruto looked at the photo, it was of a beautiful woman with long red hair and violet eyes she gave a confident expression to the camera. "That was your mother's ninja ID photo" Hiruzen said.

Naruto let a tear fall down his cheek and asking "this was my mother?" "yes Naruto-kun the woman in the photo is your mother, Uzumaki Kushina".

The rest of the night Naruto kept asking Hiruzen questions about his mother while Hiruzen did his best to answer everything.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Naruto laid on his bed thinking over everything that had happened the last few hours, he had apprehended Orochimaru's inside man, learnt of the Kyuubi and how the beast related to him. Placing his hand over his abdomen he continued finally he had also learnt of his mother ' _Uzumaki Kushina'_ Konoha's Red Hot-blooded Habanero, pulling out the photo he had of her he stared at it for a while. According to the old man Kushina had been the Kyuubi's container before him. Hiruzen had also decided to tell Naruto of the circumstances surrounding his birth, about how a masked man had managed to infiltrate the village and located Kushina who due to childbirth had been in a weakened state.

The masked man har proceeded to take the newly born Naruto as a hostage. Apparently the fourth had been around, ' _convenient'_ Naruto had thought when he heard about the fourth being there. Long story short the fourth rescued baby Naruto but in the process Kushina had been taken instead, the masked man later proceeded to rip out the Kyuubi from the seal that was containing it leaving Kushina at death's doorstep.

Then the Kyuubi went on a rampage throughout the village. After a lot of destruction and loss of life the fourth had managed to corner the beast and weakened it. It was during its weakened state that the fourth decided to seal it back into another vessel, namely him. It made sense to Naruto that he would be chosen as the vessel, he was just born which you wanted when sealing a tailed beast, ' _oh yeah that's another thing apparently their's nine of them'_ he thought somberly just the thought of there being others like him having to go through similar experiences or maybe even worse made his heart heavy with sympathy. Sealing the beast into Naruto had apparently taken the fourth's life and as if that wasn't enough his mother had given her life to save him from a desperate attack from the Kyuubi before he had been sealed completely. Thinking about that he gave a small sad smile while a tear ran down his cheek ' _at least she had loved me'_ Naruto thought, he had often wondered how his parents had felt about him whether or not they had hated him and left him at the orphanage or if they had died shortly after he was born. Knowing his mother loved him enough to give her life for his he felt a mixed emotion of happiness and grief.

Still that didn't account for his father which Naruto still had no idea about, but for now knowing about his mother was enough and knowing that he could trust Hiruzen he figured there probably was a reason for the secrecy surrounding his father.

Still feeling his eyes being teary he wiped them ' _I gotta stop being such a cry baby'_ he thought bitterly to himself, while there was nothing wrong with having emotions, he was still a ninja and he had to learn to control them, especially during missions.

Looking towards his desk he saw the three scrolls he had gotten from the Hokage as a reward for completing his A-ranked mission. He had gotten to choose from the regular monetary pay that ninjas usually got from A-ranked missions or three techniques of the Hokages choosing, naturally he chose the techniques. Having read through them he knew he would find use for them, that and he finally had a clone technique, according to the Hokage he should have no problems with this one.

He also recalled how he had once again worried Rea, having received his headband from the Hokage meaning that he was now a genin and being told that they were to return to the academy in a weeks time for team assignment. He had made his way towards the orphanage in excitement, he had finally become a ninja of Konoha, reaching the door and entering.

 **Flashback**

He saw Rea sitting by the table in the kitchen, looking at the clock by the stairs that led towards the inhabitants rooms he saw it was 5.00 AM. Naruto had completely lost track of time not even noticing several hours had passed as he inquired information about his mother from the Hokage and listening to everything Hiruzen had said with rapt attention.

 **Rea pov**

Rea had woken up early as usual to prepare breakfast for her children, in her mind they were her children until they got adopted. Even then she still somewhat considered them hers, she had raised them with love and care after all, even Lee who had moved out once he became a ninja came by regularly to check in on the other children and her. Having woken up she decided to check in on the children not seeing anything out of the ordinary she decided to check Naruto's room. She had been worried about him since he never came home last night but she had decided that he was a ninja now and could take care of himself, she still worried about him of course. Giving a light knock on his door, she had learned the hard way not to walk in unannounced to a young teenagers room, after a while and not hearing anything she decided to open the door ' _he's usually up by now'_ she thought to herself. Naruto had taken to waking up early as "ninja training" in his mind a ninja had to be ready at all times, giving a small smile at his dedication towards his training she opened the door fully. Seeing the bed undisturbed and exactly like it was yesterday after Naruto had made it before going to the academy, she figured he hadn't come home yet.

Waiting by the dinner table she didn't have to wait long before she heard the door to the orphanage open, looking towards the hallway she saw an young teenager clad in all black except for his arms which were bare until his forearms. Growing slightly worried that someone was breaking and entering she was about to ask the person what he was doing here, until she saw the person's eyes, only Naruto had such deep blue eyes.

 **Present** **Naruto pov**

Thinking about that he remembered the scolding he got from her for being out all night, after having explained the circumstances he had apologized for worrying her, she had reluctantly accepted his apology still somewhat irritated. Deciding that it was useless to try and sleep now he joined the others for breakfast, he was quite hungry.

After breakfast and getting congratulated on his graduation by the other children Naruto decided to head out and practice the new techniques he'd gotten, he had one week of free time after all.

Three days after after his A-rank mission, on his way to one of the countless training grounds that were spread across Konoha, he had decided to wear his orange clothes since he had sent his black ones to a tailor for some custom work and he had also ordered a few more sets of the black outfit. Before he arrived at the training ground he ran into Anko.

"Hey brat" the purple haired woman started the moment she noticed him and before she could continue Naruto started talking.

"Anko-chan you're back!" he exclaimed his eyes sparkling with joy. Seeing him that happy to see her she gave him a smile and ruffled his hair "yes I'm back Naruto, now come on the girls are waiting for us" she said as she started leading Naruto towards the dango place.

Naruto growing a bit irritated at having his hair ruffled like he was some sort of kid quickly forgot his irritation as he remembered Anko's promise. Noticing where they were headed Naruto decided to speak "we're going to the usual dango place?" he asked a little disappointed.

Anko hearing the disappointment in his voice gave a short chuckle and said "yes brat" and before he could interject she continued "why're you sounding so disappointed? you get three gorgeous woman all to yourself".

Naruto hearing Anko's words thinking she might have misunderstood the reason for his disappointment hastily replied "it's not that! it's just" he started then continued "couldn't we go for ramen instead of dango?" in his honest opinion ramen was a dish sent to the mere mortals of the world by the gods. However Rea wasn't a fan of Naruto eating ramen everyday so he didn't get to eat it as much as he would like to.

Anko deciding to have a little fun was going to continue the teasing but after hearing Naruto's last words got a serious look in her eye and asked "you're not saying ramen is better than dango are you brat?".

Naruto despite carrying a massive crush on the woman wasn't going to back down from this said "that's exactly what I'm saying" while giving her an look that dared her to continue this. Naruto seemed to have forgotten that Anko has a bit of an sadistic side to her, he got reminded when he saw her eyes get a sinister look in them and her smile turning sinister as well.

Anko gave a dark chuckle at Naruto's words and said darkly "we're going for danko and that's that ok? Naru-chan".

Too afraid to speak back, and a little aroused ' _why does that turn me on?'_ he asked himself, Naruto gave a meek nod "good boy" she said while giving his head a pat. Seeing her eyes and smile go back to their usual look they continued towards the dango place.

"Ramen is still better" Naruto whispered quietly to himself wanting to get the last word. Anko pretended not to hear him, even though she may have threatened Naruto a little bit she wouldn't do anything to hurt him. She cared for the boy and she found his crush on her amusing and cute which was why she teased him about it. Her friends joining in because they found the sight of a blushing Naruto too adorable not to, at the same time she figured that Naruto's crush was just that, a crush which would come to pass someday when he found a nice girl closer to his own age.

While Anko was wrapped up in her own thoughts Naruto continuously stole glances at her out of the corner of his eye, he knew the chances of a relationship with her were slim at best there was after all quite a big age difference between them ' _eleven years to be precise_ ' he idly thought to himself. He also knew there was no way she would ever get involved with a thirteen year old, no self respecting adult would he figured, that and being labeled a pedophile isn't something anyone wanted.

But he didn't want to give up just yet so he was going to wait until he was older and then confess his love to her, he was certain it was more than just a crush. Although his current plan had some negative sides to it, for example she could get a boyfriend before he was old enough for her to see him in a romantic light. But he had decided that was a risk he had to take and if she got involved with someone else and that person made her happy, then he'd give up. What he wanted most was for her to be happy, preferably with him of course but whatever happens happens.

As they were both deep in thought they noticed they had arrived. Shaking themselves out of their thoughts they entered the building. Anko led Naruto to a table where there were already two women waiting. The first woman, Kurenai had long black hair that stuck out in small spikes in some places, she had red eyes with some purple eyeliner and she had a roundish face. The second woman, Hana had long brown hair set up in a ponytail with two strands of hair falling infront of her face close to her black eyes, she had a bit more angular face than the first woman with the typical red clan markings on her cheek which was in the form of two fangs pointing down, but was still just as beautiful as the first woman ' _Anko's still the most attractive though'_ he thought to himself, maybe a bit mean to the other women but the truth was the truth Naruto justified to himself.

Taking a seat next to Anko and feeling his leg touch hers he gave a small blush, picking up the menu and starting to look through it hoping it would cover up his face and hide the blush. Though by the sound of the women's snickering it hadn't. Seeing that they served ramen Naruto knew what he was going to order.

After everyone ordered, the women rolling their eyes at Naruto's choice of meal. They started talking about what they been doing, how their training went and what sort of missions they been on lately. Naruto listened as Anko talked about her latest mission which was an assassination mission, which made sense for Anko. As they got their food and gave a cheer in celebration for Naruto's graduation, Hana decided to ask a question that had been on her mind for a while.

"Naruto-kun?" she started.

"Yes Hana-chan" Naruto replied. "I was just wondering didn't you fail the exams?" Hana asked.

Anko hearing the questions gave Hana a sharp glare thinking she was trying to make fun of Naruto's abilities as a ninja, Hana seeing the glare realised how the question might a come across hurriedly spoke again "what I mean is, you looked down that day so I thought you didn't pass" she clarified. Anko hearing Hana's clarification rose on of her eyebrows and looked at Naruto interested. Hana seeing Anko divert her attention from her gave a sigh of relief, an Angry Anko was a deadly Anko after all, though she thought Ankos protectiveness of Naruto was quite adorable and gave a quite snicker.

Naruto seeing Ankos look decided to answer her silent question "I did technically fail, I couldn't do the clone technique" then he looked at Kurenai and said "I'm sorry even after all the time you spent helping me with my chakra control I still failed".

Kurenai hearing his apology gave him a smile and decided to put his worries to rest "it's okay Naruto-kun I'm not angry or anything I know how much effort you put into the chakra control exercises I gave you".

Naruto hearing Kurenai's words gave a silent sigh of relief but before anyone could say anything Anko decided to ask "so what happened, you did pass right?".

Naruto remembering the Hokage telling him to keep the whole Mizuki affair under wraps decided to tell the women a half truth "yes I passed Anko-chan, the Hokage gave me a special test for people with large chakra reserves" he said hoping they would buy it, he hated lying to them but confidential information was confidential for a reason. He didn't think any of the three women at the table would ever go rogue on Konoha but he also didn't want to go against the Hokage's orders.

The women hearing his explanation looked a little sceptical but knew that he wouldn't lie to them for no reason, and since he had mentioned the Hokage they probably figured Naruto had been forbidden from talking about it, which was usual in the ninja world.

With the topic comic to a close they started eating while discussing different topics, one of them being Kurenai and her decision to become a jounin teacher and take on a group of genin. Hearing that Naruto sort of hoped he would end up in her team, he liked the woman and he could definitely use more help with his chakra control. Continuing the small talk they soon finished their meals. Naruto decided to excuse himself as he went to the restroom.

As Naruto left Hana and Kurenai both looked at Anko with slightly worried looks, Anko seeing their expression rose one of her eyebrows and asked "what?" while picking her teeth with a dango stick.

Hana was the one that spoke first "you seem awfully protective of Naruto-kun Anko-chan" she started "you sure there isn't anything going on between you two" she finished. Kurenai intended to ask a smiliair question but hearing Hana do it she decided to just listen to what Anko would say. No matter how close they were as friends, Kurenai wasn't sure how she would feel if Anko decided to date a thirteen year old.

Anko stared at Hana with a blank look and then looked at Kurenai briefly "are you seriously asking that question?" Anko started "I'm not going to take a thirteen year old boy to bed" she finished.

Before either Hana or Kurenai could say anything Anko continued "I admit I like him, he's adorable" she started with a slight smile playing on her lips "but he's thirteen so as of now" she said then stopped shortly " a relationship isn't even on the table but I can't say that nothing could happened once he's gotten older" she finished "if he's still interested" she added as an afterthought.

With Anko's words putting the topic to rest the two other women looked at her with small smiles they both knew Anko wasn't really interested in a relationship at the moment anyway, she'd rather spend time furthering her training as a kunoichi and doing missions while spending the little free time she has with her friends.

Hana and Kurenai both gave small sighs of relief, they both loved Anko but having your best friend date a child was a hard pill to swallow.

After Naruto came back they continued their small talk and spent the rest of the day talking about future plans and the like. When Naruto and Anko were about to split and head on home, Anko crouched down and gave Naruto a tight hug while saying "I'm proud of you Naruto" Naruto hugged her back and replied "I couldn't have done it without you and the others Anko-chan".

With that they separated and went their separate ways.

five days after his outing with Anko, on the day he would be getting assigned to a team and get a jounin teacher Naruto left the orphanage and made his way towards the academy, after giving Rea a strong hug, three days after having had his mother revealed to him he decided to talk to Rea about it since he felt conflicted. On one hand Kushina gave birth to him and gave her life to protect him and on the other hand Rea had raised him, given him love and attention when he needed it, he considered both women his mothers ' _but is that really possible?_ ', he had thought. So talking it over with Rea, who had been happy the boy considered her his mother even after finding out about his birth mother.

The whole conversation had taken quite a toll on Naruto's emotions and after hearing Rea tell him that she loved him as if he was her own child Naruto had almost started crying his eyes out, he did let a tear or two fall though. Giving the woman a tight hug he had whispered out "mother".

"Yes son?" he heard her ask "nothing I just wanted to say it" Naruto had replied to her.

Remembering the loving smile she had given him filled him with warmth, ever since that day he had started referring to Rea as his mother.

Walking towards the academy he started to think about his training the last week, not counting the day he went out with Anko, Hana and Kurenai. He had mainly dedicated his training towards learning the shadow clone technique he manage the technique after just a few hours but he wanted to master the technique and be able to use it without needing to use the hand seal. Alas he wasn't at that point yet, he had also gotten the kunai shadow technique and shuriken shadow technique down to a satisfactory level, but that didn't mean he would stop training in them. Besides training in the three techniques he had continued his studies in the art of sealing, after hearing about the Uzumaki and their mastery in the area he had gained renewed vigour and dove into all the books and scrolls he could get his hands on.

The rest of his training was devoted to furthering his stealth and increasing the effectiveness of his sensory ability, which if you asked him was a bit underdeveloped. If he somehow managed to make more time he trained in using his tanto and increasing his aim with kunai and shuriken.

Arriving at the academy he made his way towards his classroom where they were supposed to meet for the team assignments. Opening the door he noticed people were giving him weird looks thinking back he figured it was because they all thought he had failed the exam and would be in the academy for another year. Ino was the one that said what was on everyone's mind "what the hell Naruto what's with those clothes!".

Hearing Inos words he looked down on himself ' _oh right, they've only ever seen me in my orange clothes'_ he thought while giving a chuckle. He decided to answer her question "well Ino you didn't seriously think I would be wearing my orange clothes while being a ninja did you?".

"Well you never know" Ino said back a bit taken aback by Naruto's black outfit, he looked like a serious ninja. With the tanto across his lower back and six kunai, three on each thigh.

"You're not surprised I'm here?" he asked them.

Shikamaru was the one that answered "nah if your here your probably meant to, its the only logical reason" he replied giving a yawn towards the end.

As Naruto walked past his classmates seeing the seat next to Sasuke being occupied he decided to sit next to Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji a "big boned" boy, whom was another of his friends. Some student he didn't know very well asked out loud "what's with the whirlpool on your back?".

Sure enough on Naruto's back was large whirlpool in matte silver, one of the customisations he had requested from the tailor with the other being the inclusion of a leaf imprint on the silver part of his headpiece signifying his allegiance to Konoha, having gotten the okay from the Hokage so he didn't have to use the headband as long as he used to headpiece with the leaf on it as an replacement.

"Oh that" Naruto started noticing more and more student's were starting to pay attention "it's the symbol of my clan" he stated. Causing the other student's to exclaim in surprise.

"You part of a clan?!".

After Naruto had taken a seat he decided to fill everyone in on the Uzumaki clan, well those that showed an interest anyway, the Hokage hadn't said anything about keeping it secret and there were books on different clans in the village library anyway. So if they really wanted to they could probably deduce he was of the Uzumaki clan.

After a while of most students listening in on Naruto while he talked about the Uzumaki clan. Iruka finally arrived seeing the students present, he had gotten a briefing from the Hokage on Naruto's situation so he wasn't surprised when he saw him there. He was a bit disappointed at himself though for not noticing Mizuki's odd behaviour earlier.

Clapping his hands to get the student's attention, after getting it he started speaking "Congratulation on your graduation" he started and since it was their last day at the academy no one decided to interrupt him, they wanted to get out of the academy as fast as possible.

"Now for your team assignments and your jounin teacher" Iruka continued, Naruto spaced out as Iruka went through the list, he started listening after finally hearing his name, "team seven, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, jounin teacher Hatake Kakashi" after hearing his team placement he absentmindedly noticed Iruka continue down the list.

Looking at Sasuke he gave him a grin noticing Sasuke do the same.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

 **AN: changed it to first person pov, from Narutos perspective.**

I closed my eyes and let out an irritated sigh while leaning against a tree.

It was a sunny morning, birds were chirping their morning songs and the wind gave a light caress against my face, in any other instance I would revel in such a beautiful morning. However all I could feel at this moment was irritation, the reason? Kakashi was late again.

It was the day after I had been placed in a team with Sakura and Sasuke and we were currently waiting for Kakashi to arrive so we could begin our last evaluation before we were officially genin.

Thinking back to yesterday I remembered feeling the same irritation, Kakashi had been three hours late and after he finally showed up he told them meet him up on the roof, further increasing my irritation. Having walked up to the roof with my teammates we went through a quick introduction with our new teacher where we stated our names, like, dislikes and plans for the future. Me being in a foul mood copied Kakashi and only said my name and that the rest were unimportant, granted after calming down afterward I did feel a bit childish. Sakura basically only told her name and that she wanted Sasuke, while Sasuke told his name and that he wanted to chase down his brother he also mentioned wanting to restore his clan.

After the introduction were over Kakashi told us that our final evaluation was going to be tomorrow and that we should avoid eating breakfast for some reason.

* * *

Opening my eyes I looked at the cloudless sky and sighed. Hearing a growling noise I looked towards the source, which happened to be my teammates. Seeing them hold their arms across their stomach and looking uncomfortable I assumed they had skipped breakfast this morning.

"Naruto," Sakura said as she looked at me questioningly, "aren't you hungry too?"

"Nah Rea practically force fed me this morning," I told her smiling at the memory of her mumbling about growing children needing to eat their breakfast and wondering what their teacher was thinking, "she refused to let me go without eating."

Having her question answered she grumbled about starving or something and sat down on the ground.

Seeing that she didn't want to talk anymore and me not having anything better to do I decided to get some training in. Going over the options in my mind I decided to work on my sensory abilities. Closing my eyes and focusing my mind I felt the chakra of my teammates, focusing even more I tried to feel the chakra of the bugs and birds in vicinity.

What felt like two hours later I felt another chakra presence enter my sensory range looking towards the direction of the presence I soon saw Kakashi entering the clearing. He raised his right arm into the air looking as if he was about to wave but before he could start saying anything, a shout rang across the clearing.

"Where have you been Kakashi?!," Sakura stomped her right foot, "we've been waiting for two hours."

"Well Sakura," Kakashi lowered his right arm and rubbed his neck in a embarrassed manner, "I was on my way when a-"

"We don't want an excuse Kakashi," I crossed my arms and glared at him, "can we just get this evaluation started?"

I saw Sasuke nod in agreement with me while Sakura gave a small sigh.

While this had been going on I had once again taken in his appearance he had gray almost silvery hair that was forced up by his head band, which was tilted downward so it covered his left eye, he also had a face mask that covered his lower face basically only leaving his right eye visible. He wore the standard Konoha jounin attire which consisted of dark blue and dark green, on his torso he had on a flack jacket that had a bunch of pockets and a raised collar, I sutbly took in the red whirlpool on his upper left arm feeling a sense of pride come over me.

Kakashi shrugged and started to explain the last evaluation.

"Alright then, the evaluation is simple you three just have to take two bells from me," Kakashi pulled out two small bells from his pouch, showed them to us and attached them to his waist with strings, "note that there are only two bells meaning only two of you will pass the evaluation, we will go on until the clock rings," he pulled out a clock, set the time and put it down on a nearby stump. He crossed his arms and finished with, "and come at me with the intention to kill."

I was worried when he said that only two of us would be able to pass but I quickly resolved to be one of the two to pass, looking at my teammates I saw them looking worried as well, more so Sakura than Sasuke. We looked at each other then towards our teacher and gave him a nod to signal that we were ready. Seeing him give a short nod of acknowledgement he then pressed the button to start the timer.

The moment his hand lifted of the button I dug into my pouch and grabbed a couple of round pellets and threw them on the ground. The pellets quickly started spewing out smoke and by the time they hit the ground they had created a smokescreen that enveloped all of us, using that as cover I left the scene as fast and silently as possible.

I was moving through the shrubbery, finding a good hiding spot I crouched low to the ground to stay hidden, I could still feel Kakashi's chakra presence were it last was meaning he hadn't moved.

' _how should I go about this?'_ I thought to myself ' _I could try and use the same seal I used against Mizuki,_ ' sighing I knew that was close to impossible ' _nah that won't work Mizuki was a chunin Kakashi is a jounin and he probably know what happened during the exam.'_

All of a sudden I heard a dull explosion and saw a brief flash of light in the direction I had come from. I also noted that they were now two chakra presences and they were clashing against each other, I knew that it was Sasuke, I had gotten familiar with his chakra presence over the years in the academy.

The two chakra presences clashed for a short moment then the one I knew to belong to Sasuke moved away while the other one remained. A short moment later I heard a female shriek, feeling confused I once again checked Kakashi's chakra presence, it was still at the same place as before.

' _hmm weird'_ I thought and decided to figure out what was going on.

Moving towards the direction of the shriek I soon arrived and saw Sakura on the ground unconscious, spreading my senses I tried to feel if there was any other chakra presence around, not feeling any I tried to spread it further and felt one approaching however this one belonged to Sasuke and the one belonging to Kakashi hadn't moved.

Deciding to check on Sakura I moved next to her and put my fingers to her throat, feeling a pulse I breathed a sigh of relief and tried shaking her awake.

After a minute or two Sasuke arrived at the scene, I saw him look at me confused.

"Naruto what happened?," he asked while moving closer and eventually crouching next to us.

"I don't know Sasuke," I told him while shaking Sakura, "she was like this when I found her," I gave her cheek a few light slaps.

After a moment we heard a low moan, the kind you make when just waking up. We saw Sakura flutter her eyelids open and then close them again due to the sun.

"What happened," she asked nobody in particular while rubbing her eyes, "all I remember is seeing Sasukes dead body," then she looked at Sasuke and tilted her head to the side and let out a huh sound.

"Well I'm not dead," Sasuke said while extending a hand to help her up, "maybe it was an illusion," he said after a while.

I also extended a hand to her, she took both of them and we pulled her up.

"That would make sense," she dusted herself off and started rubbing her neck.

I had prepared to head of now that I knew she was okay and I saw Sasuke do the same but Sakura stopped us before we could go anywhere.

"Wait," she grabbed our hands, "I've been thinking," she said while letting her hands fall to her side having managed to stop us from leaving, "I think we're doi-.. thinking about this evaluation wrong," she finished

"What do you mean," I asked confused seeing Sasuke with a similar expression, "to me it seems pretty straight forward, take the bells and pass," I finished.

"What I mean is," she started pacing back and forth, "this evaluation doesn't make any sense, how are three genin supposed to best a jounin on their own, furthermore have any off you two ever heard of a team in Konoha made up of two genin and one jounin? because I haven't, every famous team in Konoha are made up of three genin and one jounin unless you have an apprenticeship with someone like the fourth Hokage who trained under the toad sage," she stopped pacing and looked at the two of us,"I mean we even have the famous ino-shika-cho, hell we even have the three legendary ninja who were trained by the third Hokage."

Hearing her reasoning I started to see what she meant it was indeed weird, looking over at Sasuke I could see he thinking it over too.

"Okay assuming you are right about this," I looked at her, "how should we go about it?."

"Obviously we need to work together," Sasuke said putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yes Sasuke-kun we do, I think the true objective of this evaluation is teamwork," she said putting her hands on her hips then she looked towards me, "Naruto do you have any seal that can be of use?."

"well that depends," I told her while giving her a grin, touching a seal on my arm guard several scrolls poofed into existence, "what do need?."

Each scroll contained seals of different natures I had a scroll for explosive seals and another for restriction seals and so on.

She gave of a small grin when she laid her eyes on the scrolls.

"Good, good," she nodded her head slightly and clapped her hands together.

* * *

Having made up a plan we split up to do our parts. I had given Sakura a couple of sealing tags.

Sneaking in the direction of Kakashi's chakra presence I soon saw him, I was hidden in a couple of bushes some ways away from him. He was still reading his book, giving off the occasional snicker every now and then.

Feeling the chakra presences of both Sasuke and Sakura, Sakura's being slightly elevated most likely taking up a position in a tree, circle Kakashi until we had him surrounded I waited until they had made their move.

It didn't take long, from Sasuke's direction a ball of fire went rushing towards their teacher which hit its mark. As the smoke cleared Kakashi was nowhere to be seen but he soon came out from the shrubbery looking completely fine, looking in the direction the fireball had come from.

Before he could do or say anything three kunai flew from Sakura's direction each with three seals attached to their handle. As they had expected their teacher dodged it with ease by jumping and twisting in the air so that the kunai just missed him.

The moment the three kunai had impacted the ground near Kakashi they started spewing smoke in large volumes, Kakashi getting caught in the smokescreen.

Knowing it was now my turn I quickly took the three kunai I had prepared, flew through the necessary hand seals and let them flew towards my teacher.

The three kunai multiplied to thirty mid air, entered the smoke and a heartbeat later exploded into a mass of fire and smoke.

After what felt like several minutes and having nothing happen I got slightly worried that we had accidentally killed our teacher. However that worry was for nought as all three of us was soon simultaneously kicked out of our hiding places and landed in the middle.

Scrambling to get up I drew my ninjato getting ready for a fight seeing my teammates do the same, both of them taking up kunais Sasuke had one in each hand while Sakura opted for one. Holding my ninjato in front of me, my eyes darted everywhere trying to locate Kakashi, I only just now noticed that I could no longer feel his chakra presence.

' _He let me locate him'_ I thought my eyes widening slightly at the horrifying realization.

"Quick back to back," Sasuke said while backing up towards us.

All three of us stood with our backs against each other looking around everywhere searching for our teacher.

Out of nowhere we heard a dark chuckle as the sky started to gradually turn a dark gray with lightning arcing around the clouds.

Feeling my heart beat faster and faster I started to feel genuin fear.

All of a sudden the air around us cracked and shattered like glass and in front of us was Kakashi, his hands in the ram seal.

Seeing us look scared and confused the corner of his eye crinkled slightly, I assumed he was grinning.

"You pass," he said while releasing the seal he was holding.

Us being in a state between confused and scared looked at him and then fell on our asses.

"What!?," we all said loudly.

"But….we didn't even catch a single bell," Sakura said with a shiver to her voice.

"No but you figured out the true intent behind the evaluation," he said crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm proud of you, especially you Sakura you really came through seeing the real purpose of the evaluation," he looked at her and then looked to me and Sasuke, "and I'm proud of you boys for placing your trust in your teammate despite not knowing if she was right or not."

"She gave convincing arguments," Sasuke said in his usual grumpy voice while looking slightly embarrassed.

' _I guess he is as embarrassed as me for not figuring out the true meaning behind this evaluation'_ I thought while looking over at Sakura. She had a brilliant smile on her face.

"She did indeed," Kakashi said while giving a light chuckle, "as you know by now the intent behind the evaluation was teamwork, I wanted to see if you all could work together without me having to tell you too," he looked at us seriously, "I want you to remember, those that abandon missions are trash but," he paused, "those that abandon their teammates are worse than trash."

Hearing that I looked at him with a new found respect.

"Congratulation," the corner of his eye crinkled once again, which I now know meant he was smiling, "you are now officially genin."

* * *

A month had passed since our evaluation.

We spent most of the days running d-ranked missions which consisted of, well basically chores. The afternoons were spent training working on our teamwork, we also got individual help from our teacher he had helped Sakura with basic hand to hand combat and had given her some illusionary techniques to work on, with Sasuke he had helped him with his fire techniques and bladed combat using kunai.

Kakashi had also helped me with my sensory abilities, turned out when we had planned how to take down Kakashi during our evaluation he had been listening the entire time. So I had gotten help with developing it further which mostly consisted of Kakashi hiding his chakra presence until I could barely feel it and after getting used to that he hid it further then it was pretty much rinse and repeat, of course we had all also worked on various things on our own time.

Outside of that I had also spent time with Anko, Hana, Kurenai and Yugao when they had time, although my time with Kurenai had been shorter than with the other women due to the fact that she had her own genin team.

As we were giving the Hokage a report of our latest mission, which was repainting a civilians house, I decided to voice my displeasure about our current situation.

"Hokage-sama," I started while giving a light bow of my head, "I want to request a….. more exciting mission," I said not finding a better way to say it.

Hiruzen gave of a small smile of pride when he saw my formal request. I also saw my teammates give small nods of agreement.

"hmmm...well you're progress have been quite good," he said while rubbing his chin, "why not."

Hiruzen started flipping through a bunch of different scrolls after a while he seemed to find what he looked for.

"ah here we go," he said holding up a scroll, "its a c-rank mission," he had opened the scroll and looked it over, "specifically an escort mission…..to the land of waves."

"We'll take it," the three of us said, anything was better than painting houses, walking dogs or gods forbid catching tora.

"Alright, alright," Hiruzen said chuckling, "Iruka go get Tazuna, tell him we found a team to take on his request," he told Iruka, who had been standing next to the Hokage.

"Yes hokage-sama," he said then he was off to get the client.

After what seemed like 30 minutes Iruka returned with the client who was an older man who seemed to be in his late 50's he had gray hair and goatee and he was wearing a pair of glasses that hang low on his nose, he was also carrying a bottle of sake.

"Are these the people that are supposed to protect me?," he said with a slurred voice, "they're children," he said sounding disappointed.

"I assure you Tazuna-san, they're fit for the job," Hiruzen said forcing a smile.

Looking at us Tazuna gave a light glare, "alright, alright if you say so," taking a deep breath he shifted his gaze to the Hokage, "when do we move out?."

"Early tomorrow morning," Hiruzen told him.

"Fine, fine," Tazuna said.

He soon left going back to whatever lodging he had.

With that we were dismissed, Kakashi told us to meet him by the gate tomorrow morning at around seven.

' _Knowing Kakashi he's probably going to be three hours late as usual'_ I thought to myself rolling my eyes.

After we had split up I decided to go to my favourite ramen stand, not knowing how long we were going to be gone for, I wanted to at least get one bowl of the delicious noodles.

Walking along the streets I noticed that the villagers were still giving me awkward glances whenever I walked by, parents were even subtly guiding their young children away from my path.

' _I know they aren't doing it out of hate'_ I thought while giving a small sad sigh ' _but it still hurts, like I'm a stranger in my own home'_.

Seeing the familiar ramen stand up ahead I decided to shake off the negative thoughts.

Looking up at the flaps hanging down I read Ramen Ichiraku. Guiding one of the flaps to the side I entered and gave a greeting to the chef and his Daughter.

Ichiraku was run by Teuchi a man in his early 40s he had black hair that was starting to fade into gray and his eyes seemed to almost always be shut. His daughter Ayame was a cute young woman with long brown hair, she was 17 and she had made it a habit to pinch my cheek every time I came here. They both wore white clothing, Teuchi had a white cap on his head while Ayame had a white bandana she used to tie her hair back. They were also some of the few that didn't fear me, after years of wondering why I finally found out the reason about a month ago. It had turned out that they knew my mother while she was alive and me having the Uzumaki surname, well it didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

"Hi old man, Ayame-chan," I said as I took a seat.

"Hello Naruto-kun," Ayame said while leaning over the counter and pinching my cheeks smiling softly.

"Hello Naruto," Teuchi greeted from the kitchen in the back while giving a short laugh. Only Naruto could get away with calling people old.

"Do you want the usual?," Ayame asked after she was done torturing my cheeks.

"Yes please," I said while rubbing my face.

Some minutes later and after some idle conversation a steaming bowl of ramen was placed in front of me. Taking hold of the chopsticks, I broke them apart clapped my hands together gave my thanks and started eating slowly savouring every bite.

Because Rea had forbidden me from eating ramen whenever I wanted I had taken to savouring every bite whenever I finally got to eat this heavenly dish.

As the minutes ticked by customers came and went. When I finally consumed all there was I picked the bowl up and drank the broth. Setting the bowl down, now completely empty except the slight gleam of grease.

"Teuchi," I started turning to look at the man, "it was heavenly, as always," I told him grinnig widely.

"I aim to please," he said while tilting his head forward in a slight bow with a large smile on his face happy his dedication to his craft brought such pleasure to the young man.

Saying my goodbyes to the two I decided to head home.

Walking towards the entrance of the orphanage I noticed there was still some children out in front in the small courtyard playing, giving them a smile and a wave, getting smiles and waves in return I opened the door and entered the building. Inside I saw Rea sitting on a couch in the living room with a bunch of children around her reading a story to them. Not wanting to interrupt the story time I stood in the doorway making sure to catch her eye, once I got it I gave her a smile and a wave to let her know I was home which she returned, then I moved upstairs to my room to work on some seals wanting to stock up before the mission tomorrow.


End file.
